Good job Sebastian and Brad! I thought you both did a great job leading class on Wednesday.  I really liked your icebreaker of asking the other mentors yes or no questions in order to determine which Iowa State building or landmark was taped to our backs.  I had never seen this icebreaker before. 

Our first activity we did was to get us thinking about positive and negative goals.  I really liked this activity, because when I reflected back on it, it really clicked with me.  When I tend to make goals, I tend to make them negative such as, “I’m going to study for this test so I don’t fail.”  I find myself making negative goals all of the time.  I really need to change this, not only to set an example for my students next semester, but also to help myself achieve my goals.  You are more likely to meet your goals if they sound pleasant and achievable.  Why would you want to meet a goal that is negative?!  This has definitely become one of my SMART goals for this next year.

Our next activity helped us determine whether our topic given was formative or summative.  I wasn’t familiar with these two terms, but Sebastian explained them to us quite well.  An example of a formative goal would be managing your money, you need to keep tracking your progress in order to determine if you are indeed saving money or not.  A summative goal would be studying to get an A on your next test; your goal has an end, which is determined when you receive your test grade. 

Overall, good class!  You all have done some great lessons.  Making it hard for us that have to go near the end of the semester, a lot to measure up to! Have a great week!

Interpersonal communication skills.  This is an interesting topic to think about.  It is very important, none the less a necessity for everyday life.  I thought that Coreen and Katie did a very nice job of teaching the class about this topic.  I really liked that they came up with scenarios for us to discuss in groups.  Also, I really liked the fact that they wanted everyone to answer to the discussion or give input. 

We discussed the difference between interpersonal communication and personal communication; also which is appropriate to use in which situation.  I feel like this is mostly instinct, however sometimes there are situations where you will have to decide which to use.  There is also a very fine line between the two.  I thought that when giving advice to a friend, I am more there for moral support; to listen and be there for them.  When giving advice to a student, I would also be a listener, but give more advice to them.  After all, that’s what we’re there for, right?

Within interpersonal communication, there are also helping relationships.  These are very important, as both parties are getting something out of their relationship.  One may be helping the other, or serving as their mentor, but they in turn are getting leadership experience.  These relationships are very important and can be very useful in life.  However, in order to have established one of these relationships, like we will with our students, there are some boundaries and guidelines.  This chapter talks about many, but the few that I found most important are: 

The peer mentor is a secure and approachable person:  This is very important to seem open and willing to listen to your mentees.  That way when they do have an issue or joy to share, they do.

The helping relationship is designed to produce change, and have clear structure: Describing this to students is how the book suggests letting your students know about this relationship in the beginning.  Then, as they utilize the helping relationship, they take full use of it.    

It demonstrates self worth and respect:  Both individuals in this relationship should have a foundation built in order to respect each other.  This is why it is very important to make yourself relatable. 

Overall, I thought that this chapter was very resourceful and meaningful to our future experiences.

How ‘bout that retreat today?  I had a lot of fun doing ice breakers with the other peer mentors today.  Not to mention, our digital storytelling is pretty awesome!

                                                    

This week’s Hixson class was all about culture.  I, personally, think that people view cultures according to many different things.  When I think of culture I think of how you grew up, including where, with whom (both in your household and out), and also with what.  What you grew up with could mean what you were blessed with from your childhood to now, or what struggles you went through as well.  Also when I think of culture, I think of how we deal with our struggles.  Different cultures sometimes tend to have different problems, and also deal with their problems differently.  Maybe they are very religious and pray to God when problems arise.  Maybe they concentrate on dealing with problems by leaning on family to help them out.  Or, they could rely on themselves alone to cope with their problems.  These are just some things that come to my mind when I think about culture.

On the worksheet that Easten gave us on Wednesday, the bottom question was left for us to complete on our own.  The question was, “When you study the items that are not part of your culture, which ones might be difficult for you to understand in someone else’s?  Some items that I might find hard to understand would be different religions than mine, different languages (for the purpose that I do not know them), or ways of living where they do not use all that is available as an advantage to them.  This in no way means that any of these things are wrong, at all.  It just means that I might have to hear a lot about them from someone of that culture in order to understand this part of their culture better.  Just as they say, “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked in their shoes.”  But as Easten made the point, you will never be in their shoes.  I will never be latino.  I will never be a male.  I will never be an Obama.  I think that there are plenty of ways in which we can understand others’ cultures by learning from them, but we shall never judge them because we will never know what it is truly like in their shoes.

Overall, the lesson really made me think.  I really enjoyed Easten’s way of teaching the class and the examples that he gave to help us relate to culture.  Good job Easten!

I really enjoyed going to Hixson class this week.  I remembered doing MTBI last year as a freshman, but I feel like I got more out of it this time in the smaller group setting.  When Debra was first going over the different letters and what they stood for, I thought that my type was ISFJ.  It turns out that I am an ESFJ.  After going through the packet we got and doing the activities, I soon realized why I was an ESFJ, which is extraversion, sensing, feeling, and judging.  I was very strong (a 30) in the judging category, which is very much like me. 

I really liked when we split up into groups by our preferences between our types and talked about different situations.  I learned that I most often like to be introduced, especially in personal social situations.  At work, I prefer to introduce myself.  Also, as I know, I really like to ask questions before making a decision.  I like to do more research and find facts to support my decisions and answers.  In this group setting, I learned that a lot of others in my group, that were concrete thinkers, also liked to do the same before making decisions.  I learned in class that this is very much okay, and that it is a very normal thinking process for concrete thinkers. 

In the packet we got, there was one page in particular that I found very interesting, the page that describes how different personality types work together.  I like feeling best, then sensing, intuition, and thinking last.  The packet gave me some suggestions in order to use my less-favored processes to work with others better.  It suggested that I take more breaks while working with processes I don’t like as well.  And also to find time doing things using the processes that I do like to build upon them. 

Overall, I learned a lot about how different people think and react with each other that are different MTBI types.  I really enjoyed learning about this, and I can’t wait to continue to research my type.